Texans notes: No excuses for defense

Published 5:00 am, Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Texans running back Steve Slaton has lost four fumbles in seven games, but he’s also scored five touchdowns.

Texans running back Steve Slaton has lost four fumbles in seven games, but he’s also scored five touchdowns.

Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Chronicle

Texans notes: No excuses for defense

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Standing by Slaton

Steve Slaton has lost four fumbles in seven games, but he's scored five touchdowns. He's too valuable to the running and passing games to spend much time on the bench being penalized for losing the ball.

“It's a concern when you put it on the ground as much as he has,” coach Gary Kubiak said. “It's a concern to him. I believe in Steve, and our team believes in him and trusts that to be successful and accomplish some of the things we want to accomplish as a team, we need Steve making those plays.

“We've got to stand behind him. To me, it's up to all of us to help him get over this issue — me, (running backs coach) Chick (Harris), everybody on the staff, the whole team helping him in practice. We're going to stand behind Steve and help him get this corrected because we need his big plays to win.”

No excuses for defense

Coach Gary Kubiak said it shouldn't have made a difference if Alex Smith or Shaun Hill were playing quarterback for the 49ers in the second half of Sunday's 24-21 Texans victory.

Smith came off the bench in the second half and threw three touchdown passes to tight end Vernon Davis down the middle. Some Texans defensive players said they had no idea who Smith was.

“There's no difference; they weren't running any different plays,” Kubiak said. “There's no excuse for that. Whoever's playing quarterback you've got to defend what they're doing. In the second half, we didn't play with the same attention to detail, coverage-wise, leverage-wise.”

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The wind at Ralph Wilson Stadium can be treacherous for visiting teams.

“I've played there many times,” coach Gary Kubiak said. “You can show up there and really only be able to throw the ball for two quarters when the wind is at your back. I've seen that.

“But Matt (Schaub) has handled adverse conditions very, very well. We've got to prepare either way. If we have to run it to win, we've got to do a better job running it. You never know what's going to happen there, weather-wise.”